Red, hot and blue

The East End’s newest gallery, French Riviera 1988, opened its doors last night to a packed house. Behind this otherwise inconspicuous neon-lit shop front is the latest project space by the artist duo Samuel Levack and Jennifer Lewandowski. Their spacey inaugural show, Horizon Hypnotique features an ambient collection of distorted photographs, holographic and video works by artists including Alex Ressel, Beatriz Olabarrieta, Lucy Woodhouse and Richard Parry. In-between the crowd, blurred silhouettes of red-hued figures almost dance across the downstairs rooms of the house. The spirit of hazy nights out and their seductive, reckless female stars floods the gallery, and it’s hard not to sway to their invisible beat.

Horizon Hypnotique runs from the 18th February – 13th March 2011 at French Riviera 1988.
Open Friday – Sunday, 12 – 6 pm and by appointment.

Twin meets winner of the Film London Jarman Award, Oreet Ashery, and nominees Adham Faramway and Marianna Simnett

Now in its tenth year, the winner of The Jarman Award was announced at Whitechapel Gallery on the 20th November. This year saw Oreet Ashery take home the prize, receiving £10,000 to develop her projects which consider gender and society with the support from Channel 4.

The award recognises artists working with moving image, celebrating and supporting experimental, imaginative and innovative UK-based work. The Jarman Award is named after legendary experimental director and cinematographer Derek Jarman.

Twin spoke to winner Oreet Ashery along with Adham Faramway and Marianna Simnett – both shortlisted for the award.

Adham Faramway’s work draws on the language of advertising and combines it with the transgressive aesthetics of ‘body horror’, Oreet Ashery is an interdisciplinary artist who confronts ideological, social and gender constructions, while Marianna Simnett surgically lowered her own voice with botox during her short film The Needle and the Larynx, which screened on Sunday. Together they represent some of the most exciting filmmakers on the scene today.

Twin meets Oreet Ashery

Why did you choose the web series format for your film Revisiting Genesis?

My work always reaches beyond the structure of the contemporary art institution, but this is my first major work created specifically for the internet so that it can be freely accessible to as wide an audience as possible. I was inspired by the independent filmmaking of web series’ such as F to 7, and wanted to develop my own approach to the genre as a visual artist. Revisiting Genesis aims to conceptually expand the entertaining and narrative driven elements of the format. One of the central questions explored in the work is around what happens to your online digital content (websites, social media profiles, photographs etc) after you die, and as such the internet provides an appropriate platform for the work.

How does Revisiting Genesis force viewers to consider their own mortality and their online legacies?

Hopefully it makes them think and contemplate whether they want to put anything in place in preparation for death (expected and unexpected) and if so what and how.

How does the film expand on some of the key ideas you have been exploring in your practice?

The film expands on the notion of a potential community, in the real sense that most of the people in the work know each other from the art and performance world. The fictional narrative speaks about a community of friends, outside normative family structures, that come together to help Genesis. I think a lot about how we can structure our busy lives so we can have space to help a friend if needed. The other issue that comes up in the film is the loss of social structures, such as the community college Charles Keene in Leicester, it was the first place I felt a sense of belonging as a young immigrant to the UK in the late 80s. the College has been demolished in 2010 and has been amalgamated to a multi campus university, as is the faith of most community colleges. After the films I received great emails from people who were outsiders and use to go there and achieved so much in their lives since. The emails mentioned what an important role this college played in their development. The other aspect, and there are many, is the idea of one’s identity or the narration of one’s life, in this film I’ve expanded this notion to the afterlife.

What do you hope viewers will take away from Revisiting Genesis?

I have no expectations as such. What I always hope people well take away from my work is something that lingers, that is not easy and that makes them think.

Twin meets Adham Faramawy

Where does the title of your film, Janus Collapse, come from?

The time that I was working on the video that’s shortlisted for the Jarman award was both personally and politically pretty unstable. I was recovering from a minor a road accident and

TV and social media were (and still are!) saturated with adverts and disaster politics. I was kind of trapped at home, looking at this stuff, reading sci-fi and feeling introspective. I had to think through some things while researching for the show at Bluecoat in Liverpool. Where the piece would first

be seen. I wanted to think through this instability, to think as an image-maker about how images are used to introduce and reinforce certain ideas. I wanted to examine the ways that images are disseminated and to consider what effect that has on me personally and whether it affected how I was thinking about my body.

The Janus is the two faced Roman god of doorways and transition. I decided to use his image as something to hang this examination of instability on, while casting the idea of a collapse as something generative, the possibility of the collapse of an image.

How does the film subvert tropes that are used in advertising?

In a way I consider almost all my output as a kind of contamination of aesthetic categories. I feel uncomfortable with hierarchies and I just don’t like being told who I am or what to do, so my interest in advertising is in a sense symptomatic of that sense of always wanting to investigate

and push back. The way that I’ve been investigating commercial images is to try to inhabit them, mimic them, intensify and distort certain aspects until they no longer possess a commercial potential.

When did you start incorporating the ‘body horror’ genre into your work?

Writer Jamie Sutcliffe pointed it out to me in an interview! He said, “We see a pair of hands moisturizing with a digitally enhanced, absurd and all-consuming slime. It’s a quick slip from Evian commercial to a kind of Cronenbergian symbiosis.”At that point I started looking for body horror in adverts and realized that images of melting teenagers were being used to sell pizza and escaped tongues were being used to sell beer.

It was Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy that introduced me to the idea of body horror as one facet of a potentially holistic, tender, nurturing, non-binary sexual experience.

What do you hope viewers will take away from the film?

I hope that viewers take away a feeling complicated and queasy enough to highlight the operative mechanisms of the image they’ve just ingested.

Twin meets Marianna Simnett

The Needle and the Larynx was screened on Sunday – what was the inspiration behind that film?

A sudden, terrible urge to lower my voice, a fascination with toxins and hypodermic needles, and a desire to warp my experience into a fable.

Why is it important for you to put yourself into your work, and to test the limits of your own body?

I can take risks with my own body I wouldn’t take with others. It’s my go-to tool for telling stories, and helps me to live out my ideas and not just think about them. At best, my work might prompt someone to cup their genitals or necks, as if to check they are materially, unmistakably present. That liminal space between being a thing or a someone, and then morphing or falling apart – I’m hooked on those moments.

You have often explored the gendered implications of voice and masochism, what draws you to these themes?

I’m interested in appropriating and spoiling archetypes, especially when it comes to the final binary constraints of heteronormativity. Pitch, tone, timbre and accent have implications on social bodies and their right to exist in one place and not another. Voices (often disembodied) in my work battle patriarchy and madness. Masochism is a submission to fantasy.

Joy Bc’s Hotline Bling

South London based jewellery designer Joy BC specialises in creating bespoke designs that embody both the anthropological and physiological sides of jewellery. Her work spans a range of themes, from ideas around protecting people while travelling; to remembering the dead; to celebrating love to more simple examination of form. Her aim is to use jewellery to engender conversation, imbuing fine jewellery with new and heightened significance. Ahead of her workshops at Draw Haus, Twin caught up with Joy BC to discuss the possibilities of silver and her collaborative ethos.

How did you become interested in jewellery?

It started with a ring which was made by one of my ancestors in Italy. It resembles a futurist sculpture. My mother use to wear it on special occasions and I found it hypnotic. I drew comparisons between the form and feeling that that ring gave me to those within Brancusi’s pieces and Barbara Hepworth’s. Otto Kunzli, a jewellery artist who made a necklace made from divorcees’ wedding bands, which subsequently became an emotionally laden piece, and thus un-wearable, really excited me in how powerful jewellery can be.

What are you influenced and inspired by?

A variety of things. Sometimes it’s simply the materials, and their intrinsic beauty.

Why is important to use jewellery as a tool for engendering conversation?

Jewellery travels with with you – lives with you and speaks for you. Without words it can convey messages or feelings. A huge Hellenistic marble sculpture which conveys strength (Nike at the lure, for example) isn’t something that you can strap to your body – but a boobies ring which encourages discussion on the natural way of breast feeding, or female nudity – literally ‘freeing the nipple’ – is something that you can. The ‘listening aids’ I make are to encourage people to be better listeners, something we could all benefit from. Especially myself! I talk way too much; it’s the Italian in me! In fact I’m currently wearing my ‘I’m all ears’ piece, which is made of 47 tiny ears in precious silver and gold, while I listen to the news of the news.

What are the limitations of working with silver? And do you have a favourite material to work with?

Limitations? I’ve never thought of the limitations of silver, only the possibilities. It oxidises, which gold doesn’t. However I like that – I often use a chemical to speed up the oxidisation process to create a dark blue black patina on some of my work. I don’t have a favourite material, but I have to say, 18ct yellow gold is delicious. I also love wax – especially the type I used in Tokyo which was made of beeswax and cedar resin. They use that combination to make traditional Kenji Stamps (then cast into bronze). And it smells beautiful.

What do you hope to achieve through your workshops at Draw Haus?

I hope people really enjoy themselves, and help people making something that they feel proud of. Whether it’s a playful experiment or precise present for himself or herself or someone they care about. It’s always fascinating to see what pieces people make.

Draw Haus Creative Workshops: Jewellery Making with Joy BC will take place on 17th November. Buy tickets here.

Matt & Nat: vegan arm candy to love

Material and nature: those are the focus behind vegan bag brand Matt & Nat. Their e-shop features a cornucopia of chicly-designed backpacks, satchels, totes, clutches and other assorted arm candy, all created from recycled goods.

From its inception, the company committed itself to not using leather or any animal-based materials in their designs. The result is a variety of sustainable fabrics: recycled nylons, cardboard, rubber and cork, with linings created from old water bottles.

Yet these are not fusty, out-of-date, hippy designs. Witness sleek backpacks, perfect for the city-slicker: the Paxx (£138) in midnight blue or black, or the more feminine Peltola (£115) – perfect for summer in duck-egg-blue. The vintage collection is rife with retro, structured shapes. The curved Nemesis (£103) and the Phil mini-messenger (£95) are favourites.

Using such textiles requires constant innovation. The vegan leathers produced by the team in Quebec are coloured with vegetable dyes, giving them an authentic appearance, much like the real deal, and means the bags come in an incredible range of hues, both on-trend pastel and day-glo brights. And the material’s strength means you can continue loving your bag for years to come.

Charlotte OC @ Hoxton Square Bar And Kitchen

On Wednesday 20 August, a steady stream of suits, hipsters and minor celebrities (Samwell Tarly from Game of Thrones – yes, really) flooded into Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen’s performance area. In the darkened room, lit with blues and pinks and reds, an audience was assembling to see a hotly-tipped, up-and-coming musician.

The lady in question was Blackburn native Charlotte O’Connor, aka Charlotte OC. Despite being tapped as the sound of 2014, Charlotte’s path to stardom has had a rather slow beginning. Although she had a record deal in her teens, she was dropped and the album never saw the light of day. In the ensuing years she worked in her mum’s hairdressing salon.

But talent will out, and now this slight, leather-clad figure, complete with perfect, blunt-cut fringe, captivated the audience from the get-go. Her rich, soulful voice filled the room, accompanied by two keyboard players.

The stand-out track is her latest EP, Strange. An ethereal, haunting song with distinctly dark undertones, its electro feel was bewitching in the performance space. The tempo changed for a ballad, and then poppy Hangover’s toe-tappingly good beat swept the audience to the finale. During Colour My Heart, Charlotte’s voice developed a raw and emotional quality that contrasted with her previously upbeat songs.

Charlotte OC is clearly going somewhere. The only complaint was that the set was all too brief. Strange releases on 22 September.

SCHOTT NYC X HOUSE OF HOLLAND

Over the last century Schott NYC has become a staple in the wardrobes of many a rock-star, Hollywood pin up and style icon, so much so that the label’s handcrafted outerwear has rapidly become just as iconic as the wearers themselves. Perhaps James Dean wouldn’t have been much of a Rebel Without a Cause without his Schott Perfecto® biker… Similarly, Joan Jett’s hit record Black Leather may have been a little less inspired without hers…

With an impressive true-blue American heritage dating all the way back to 1913, Schott’s 100th birthday is soon approaching. To celebrate, the New York based label has teamed up with British designer Henry Holland, to create a capsule collection that is scheduled to launch next month. Henry adorns the distinguished Perfecto® biker with butterscotch and peach candy stripes and creates a playful version of the signature American college varsity jacket, combining Schott’s celebrated history with a youthful and contemporary aesthetic.

The Schott NYC X House of Holland anniversary collection will be available to purchase at Selfridges, London from November 2012.

Amazing Grace, Wales Bonner’s greatest hits

As London Fashion Week Mens kicks off, Twin offers a survey of the innovate designs from Grace Wales Bonner, the menswear designer who has the city smitten. And quite right, too. With her natural flair for 70s tailoring and exquisite eye for detail, the London designer riffs across the aesthetic spectrum of menswear –from studded cropped velvet jackets to pristine white, ethereal-feeling two pieces – always ensuring tightly executed and intelligent collections.

Whether she’s inspired by the streets of London and Dakar or the works of James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and Marlon Riggs, Wales Bonner creates romance that’s steeped in historical and cultural context – her shows are often accompanied with a rich set of literary references, and she produced a 10,000 word dissertation as part of her final collection for Central Saint Martins, in spite of it not being mandatory.

A winner of the LVMH young designer prize, as well as receiving the award for emerging menswear designer at the British Fashion Awards in 2015, Grace is guaranteed to stir the hearts and minds of the industry this season – as a new year begins, take a chance to catch up on the best of Wales Bonner’s work to date so you’re all switched on for her show on Sunday.

Citizens of Humanity x Mytheresa

This month, an exciting collaboration between premium denim line Citizens of Humanity and luxury retailer mytheresa.com will become available online. The six-piece collection will launch exclusively on the respective websites and is comprised of limited edition denim outerwear and bottoms.

Heavily inspired by the ’80s and early ’90s heavy metal scene, the designs have drawn a lot of influence from cult band Metallica, introducing subtle details in the designs which hint at the ’90s grunge era. The women’s capsule collection goes against the grain, keeping in mind Metallica’s uniform of denim jackets and distressed jeans. To showcase the line and capture its heavy metal influence, Metallica drummer and founding member Lars Ulrich shot the collection, choosing his wife Jessica Miller to model it.

The collection was designed by the Citizens of Humanity Founder Jerome Dahan and Women’s Creative Director Catherine Ryu. Working in collaboration with mytheresa.com, each piece has been produced in Los Angeles, using Citizens of Humanity’s in-house laundry and manufacturing facilities to produce items unparalleled in quality and fit.

Three new outerwear silhouettes have been introduced in the collection, including the Classic Jacket, an oversized boyfriend fit in a light blue wash, a slimmer fit denim jacket in a vintage blue wash called the Trucker Jacket, and the Trucker Vest, a sleeveless washed black denim vest. Three new trouser styles will also become available, these include a high-rise skinny jean in washed black, a mid-rise straight leg jean in a vintage blue wash, and a mid-rise straight fit in washed black.

Grear Patterson’s True Romance

This summer, New York-based artist Grear Patterson is presenting an exhibition at London’s Marlborough Contemporary which is centred around something that is often thought of as an ever-deteriorating concept: true romance. With Tony Scott’s seminal film of the same name serving as the catalyst as well as the title, he has produced a series of mixed-media works that both encapsulate and explore the theme.

Utilising the “visceral vernacular of the sunset as an auspicious moment – simultaneously a romanticised ending and yet a promise of new beginnings” – each piece is a study in pop-culture, imagery and processes of perception, all of which have become recurrent motifs in Patterson’s work over the years.

The symbolism of the sunset is explored both literally and figuratively elsewhere in the show – with banana trees and hammocks physically present within the gallery – further adding to the stereotypical idea of a tropical sunset, especially as is so commonly seen through the millennial lens of social media.

A plethora of found materials – from parachutes, wedding tablecloths, boat sails and vinyl – make up the large scale sunsets, while smaller works are comprised of block colour paper works in purples, pinks, blues, oranges and greens become a “memorialisation of youthful possibility, oddesey and adventure”.

Match Day

You don’t have to be ‘Gregory’s Girl’ or ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ to make timeless sports classics work for you. In fact, there’s no need to reference any men at all. With the Women’s Super League preparing to embark on another astounding season – and players such as Marie Hourihan, Beth Mead, Jemma Rose and Jade Bailey fast becoming ones to watch – a kick about has never looked so good.

In another of our online stories, we bring you the work of photographer Josh Shinner, with the shoot ‘Match Day’. Working with stylist Siobhan Lyons, they spent a hectic Saturday at North London’s Emirates Stadium and produced, what we think you’ll agree, is quite a lovely study in focus, fashion and football.

Shooting outside the ground before the Tottenham vs Arsenal match – billed as the ‘biggest north London derby in a decade’ – certainly had it’s challenges. For example getting caught up in a scrum with smoke bombs and riot police was maybe a tad more than I’d anticipated… – Josh Shinner

Twin Meets Francesca Belmonte

Francesca Belmonte’s sound is sultry, distinctive and unique, blending RnB, soul, club and electronica with an avant-garde twist. Having worked in the industry for years with trip-hop icon Tricky, Belmonte perfected her talent and is now going out on her own. Her recently released debut, Anima, gives us insight into her world with sombre vocals that are broken up by beats, synths and electronica.

Twin caught up with the singer/songwriter to talk melancholia, favourite lyrics and how it all began.

So how did you end up in Music?
As a teenager I had a few friends with bedroom studios who were always looking for singers. I started writing poems from a young age but this was the first time I’d laid down vocals and ideas properly and I loved it. We would play gigs around London for fun and I realised very quickly it was what I wanted to do. I started working with more producers, experimenting and developing ideas. Then in 2008 when I met Tricky and my life changed. Within a week of knowing him I was on a two month European tour and then a month or so after that we were touring America. He invited me to sing and write in the studio which we’ve been doing ever since; and six years later he produced my record. I am interested in other things and I’d like to go back to school one day but music has always been priortity.

Why did you decide to go it alone after working with Tricky for so long?
Because I began to get too comfortable. I had no idea what I was doing when I first started with Trick. I knew I was good enough and that I deserved to be there but I was a novice with a lot to learn. The skills and lessons I’ve learned along the way both professionally and personally have been invaluable but six years is a long time and I began to get restless. It would have been very easy to just stay there, stay on his tour, in his studio. It’s an addictive cycle; make an album tour it and start all over again and being his singer this cycle was provided for me over and over again and all I had to do was show up. It’s been an enriching experience but I needed to feel scared again, I needed a new challenge.

What would you say is the most important lesson you learnt from working with Trick?
To leave your insecurities at the door. I learned this lesson the hard way and I’ll never forget it. Very early on we were writing on the tour bus in Estonia. It was a good vibe and he suggested I tried this particular idea over a piece of music we were listening to. I was apprehensive and said ‘No I don’t think thats going to work’. And the session just stopped, it was like I’d just murdered a member of his family or something, I completely killed the vibe and there was no coming back from it. That doubt I had was an insecurity that had no place in that creative environment and I totally got it. Later on he wrote me a poem to explain why he was so upset about it which is the opening verse of a song I wrote called I Could. He says often, even now ‘You have to try, you have nothing if you dont try.’

Tell us a little about the name of the album, Anima. What does it mean to you?
I came across the word while reading about Carl Jung and firstly it jumped out at me because it looked so beautiful written down and sounded so strong and elegant. Then the more I read into it, the more it resonated with me. It means soul in Italian and being half Neapolitan I liked that nod to my heritage. In Jungian psychology it is the female element of the male psyche which was fitting having been Trickys singer, the voice behind a man for such a long time. There is also an ancient meaning my guitarist told me about a few weeks ago which is the idea that everything is living and connected from a human being to a rock at the top of a mountain. To me the word Anima is about femininity, strength and the two existing harmoniously together. To be a woman is to know your power and to excercise it while retaining that feminine strength and vulnerability which can be challenging in the world we are living in today. There’s too much pressure put on women of all ages to be sexy and fuckable and not enough encouragement to develop ones skills and unique abilities.

Your music has melancholic undertones. What draws you to this style?It’s not something I think about, it just comes out that way. The album is often quite uptempo and dancey, but you’re right there are strong sad elements even in those seemingly more upbeat tracks like Lying on the Moon. I like sad songs, always have done so perhaps its just a cultivation of listening to a style of music which ultimately influences your art.

You have said in previously interviews that you are very proud of your lyrics. Do you have a favourite line that resonates?
It’s hard to pick one favourite line. I want to write more songs like Your Sons, ‘Your sorrow, your sons a hero, but what for? I’m not sure. Your young ones get called and march on, but what for? I’m not sure’. I like the Brothers and Sisters lyrics too , ‘He’ll be waiting round the corner, he’ll be standing up straight, you may notice some affliction. Can you see him whats he wearing? Were his wings beneath the coat? Did he talk of revolution? Did he sing of every note?’ I want to write more songs like that, focusing on strong imagery and mysterious stories. I’m most proud of the Stole lyrics though, they poured out of me and it was like a purging.

Francesca Belmonte’s debut album Anima is out now on False Idols. Buy here.

London Fashion Week AW15 Highlights

As the fashion pack decamps to Paris for the next round of Autumn / Winter 15 womenswear shows, Twin revisits London Fashion Week – the off-guard moments, the new stars of design and the risk-takers who made us sit up and take notice.

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Back to Winter basics was the theme for designer and NewGen recipient Paula Gerbase this season, as her signature androgynous vision continued with structured tailoring, loose fit trousers and knitwear taking the form of longer-length dresses, high polo necks and a sleeveless knit tunic. Utility detailing worked against the neutral colour palette of chalky whites, navy and grey, as the Barbican’s glass roofed conservatory provided a leafy sanctuary and tropical oasis of calm during a hectic fashion week – a setting which blended perfectly with this effortlessly understated collection.

Turning her presentation into a live lookbook shoot – complete with photographer Yuvali Thesis and illustrator Clym Evernden capturing the moment – Charlie May invited the audience behind the scenes into her world of clean-cut modernism. Set in Mayfair’s art-deco inspired Beaumont Hotel, the collection presented an oversize silhouette as generous shapes framed the body in a mix of shearling, leather and rich wools – the emphasis was on tactile textures, quality cuts and winter seen through a fresh minimalist focus.

Experimenting with the concept of deconstruction of textural fabrics, the designer drew inspiration from the tape-wrapped sculptures of British artist Phyllida Barlow.

Creating a collection which included oversize silhouettes in lambswool and elastomeric yarn, raw unfinished holes were left in the garments, paired with heavy leather boots by Kult Domini, evoking a woolly 90s grunge aesthetic.

Set against a landscape of meteor-like rocks, her vision transformed Chelsea College of Arts into a post-apocalyptic playground, with the odd pop of gold bleeding through the romantic darkness.

We are sailing was a key reference for Raeburn’s nautical-inspired collection, Immerse, which continued the theme from his AW15 Menswear show, offering a bold exploration of the textures, shapes and colours associated with a life on the seas. A merino wool cape, puffer jacket, pea coat and duffel coat all reinvented the sailor aesthetic, in muted blues and life-jacket orange.

His shark print motif was in full effect across knitwear and jumpsuits while fur detailing and long ponchos injected a casually luxe elegance into his signature mix of modern technical outerwear. Shark-shaped bags and mittens gave things a playful twist. Aye aye captain.

The basement of a Soho car park complete with silver foil blankets for warmth, provided the setting for Joseph’s take on desconstructed femininity – and the blanket association didn’t stop there. Across an almost nude colour palette, heavy knits and blanket fabrics seamlessly blended with silk, fur and cashmere to evoke an organic cozy familiarity, as hard oversize masculine cuts played against the softness, unravelling a seductive femininity – inspiration drawn from the work of sculptor Robert Morris.

In a collection which included threadbare knits with drop-stitching, fur tunics and blanket dresses, all worn with velcro strap sandals and thick woolly ankle socks, it evoked the feeling of coming in from the cold, with added comfort.

Do you wanna be in their gang? Yes please. The Sibling trio continued to put the fun into reworked classics, with an energetic collection which fused a myriad of textural styles, including signature cobwebbed knits, fuzzy furs, lyrically-splashed polished latex and a reinvented tweed two-piece in knitted lurex.

Drawing inspiration from the vibrant hues of the late Danish furniture and interiors designer Verner Panton, 80s neon pinks and sherbet oranges called for attention across colour-block knits, slinky knit dresses and skinny scarves, as detailing from beaded brooches and badges evoked those Saturday trips to Camden Market as a teenager, the one with only DIY on your mind. Slim and sexy silhouettes injected glamour into a collection which celebrated being too cool for school, complete with punk-edged mohawks.

The signature slogan sweater made its entrance too, paying homage to the show’s soundtrack by Blondie – Call Me it said, and if you saw one of Sibling’s girls hanging out at a party… you would definitely try to get her number.

This was in no way a bubblegum sweet collection, it was hard and fast for girls with a bold attitude who aren’t afraid to express themselves, defined by bratty slogans like “Improve Your Image. Be Seen With Me.” Now that’s confidence for you.

Who knew that stripper chic could be so covetable, as a troupe of sassy girls stomped out clad in a powerful and provocative collection which drew inspiration from Jane Fonda’s character Bree Daniels, in the cult 70s movie Klute.

Signature sequin embellishment took on a new form across pumped-up camouflage parkas, mini skirts and jumpers with fur trims, while stonewashed denim was roughed up for the streets, cut into dresses, jackets and lace-up jeans decorated with stud detailing. Boudoir-ready nighties with lace trimming sent the temperature soaring, along with lipstick-red latex boots and a patchwork fur slogan jumper which simply read, “Sex” – watching this collection, you couldn’t help but have it on your mind.

There’s a new cocktail in town and it’s called ‘Topshop Unique’, as the fashion powerhouse blended one part outdoorsy daytime English heritage with one part slinky night owl, serving up a decadent mix of sexed-up kilts, vinyl miniskirts, dandelion print dresses with thigh-high slits, marabou trimmed dresses, embellished velvet frocks, Aran knits, retro roll necks and faux fur-lined duffel coats.

Mixing the conventional with the unconventional, this was a gilded happy hour full of posh girls from the countryside who come to the city to party (yah yah), kicking off their red square-toed velvet shoes at the end of the night. We’ll cheers to that.

Tavi gives her thoughts on colours and their meanings and confirms what I always said of navy blue “it’s the best color for a peacoat”, while Lena Dunham solemnly pronounces “I just won’t go there with a gaucho pant…it feels like a rejection of everything great about having lady legs.” Amen sister. Zosia Mamet recreates authentic fashion mag poses from every decade in a black unitard which is brilliant. And Kim Gordon talks about her stage style and modelling for Saint Laurent Paris – this book is basically like eavesdropping on the cool girls’ table at the world’s most awesome party.

There’s a sweet repeated feature throughout the book called ‘compliments’ which is just that – transcriptions of overheard conversations between women where one is paying the other a compliment!

It’s immediately inclusive, like being a part of a loud, drunken conversation among close friends where everyone’s shouting over each other but you all understand exactly what you’re talking about because it’s shared and true and good.

I LOVE how all the amazing intelligent stylish women in this book, plus the likes of Mindy Kaling are claiming fashion as their own and proudly defending it and celebrating it – refusing to be intimidated either by the dictatorial glossy mags who want to shame you into feeling you can’t participate in brittle beautiful Planet Fashion, or the puritan killjoys who seem to think we should just slouch around in sackcloth because anything more pleasurable or pretty is superficial and stupid.

If anyone ever bleats on at you about how fashion and clothes don’t matter (not that this tends to happen in real life, just in the Guardian comments section) just wordlessly hand them this book and walk away.

Worn Stories is the result of a four-year project by New Yorker Emily Spivack (Princeton Architectural Press, £15.99), a teacher and a blogger who’s been collecting first person accounts of clothes from their owners. From the starting point of a visit to a garment factory in her introduction, she contrasts the mass-production mechanisms behind contemporary clothing manufacture with our personal experiences of choosing outfits and the context we ourselves give our wearables.

We all have a favourite item with a ton of memories woven into its history like a pattern. Here some famous and not-so-famous personalities share their own stories alongside photographs of their items hanging lonely and unworn. These are objects invested with much special significance and whether they’ve been worn once or worn-out, patched together these mini sartorial memoirs make a fitting tribute to the contributors’ wardrobe favourites. Hearing about LCD Soundsystem’s Pat Mahoney’s stage costume, Simon Doonan’s cycling shorts, Piper Kerman’s court suit, Greta Gerwig’s crush’s old shirt will have you searching through your cupboards for your own worn stories.

Print: Fashion, Interiors, Art by Simon Clarke (Laurence King, £30) is our glossy book of the month. Lushly coated in a wraparound jacket of hazy florals, this is an up-to-date guide to current print trends and a cutting edge sourcebook for eye-catching and innovative design and digital patterns.

Anna-Marie Fitzgerald and Phoebe Frangoul are the co-editors and co-founders of the London grrrl-zine and literary salon Pamflet. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram @Pamflet.

Parlez Vous Francais?

Recently, Twin crossed the channel and headed to the French capital to find out what’s hot in Paris right now. Between walking along Avenue Montaigne, shopping at Colette and eating macaroons at Angelina, we met with some emerging designers at their showrooms to find out about the AW14 collections. Now if you’ve not heard of these three brands before, take note.

Etienne Dereoux

Etienne Dereoux states that he doesn’t necessarily create with seasons in mind. Everything is more resortwear; “winter under the sun” if you will, and with the bright pink and blue hues his latest collection boasts, spending your time by the fire would be a complete waste of his garments. Dereoux studied fashion at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts and La Cambre School of Visual Arts before starting his eponymous label in Paris. There is a certain serenity to his pieces, fusing comfort and elegance in a contemporary sportswear fashion.

For AW14 a mix of vivid colours like bright fuchsia and royal blue are complemented by black and white and find themselves decorating clean-cut bomber jackets, wool cashmere coats, soft honeycomb knits or crocodile leather pieces. We were specifically drawn to his knitwear capsule collection, a collaboration with the heritage brand Le Mont Saint-Michel. Inspired by dance attire, the range includes mesh-like jumpers and fully- fashioned merino dresses that perfectly combine French savoir-faire and American-inspired sportswear. It’s a match made in fashion heaven.

Now you might not know the name, but you’ve certainly seen his designs before. As Head Knitwear Designer for Kenzo, Risto Bimbiloski is no newcomer to the fashion scene having previously worked at Jean Colonna, Thierry Mugler and Louis Vuitton. His personal label is inspired by science and technology giving us quirky motifs and intricate pieces that push the boundaries of knitwear entirely. A family affair, the brand’s collections are entirely produced by Risto’s own atelier, run by his mother in Macedonia and at his showroom we met his brother too. The Macedonian designer is also influenced by the traditional artisan techniques of the women in Ohrid, his hometown, so it’s safe to say this creative hasn’t forgotten his roots.

Come winter, the Risto girl will be seen in light green metallic dresses, high-waisted loose-fitting tailored pants in varied shades, and of course an array of knitted pieces from polo necks, cropped woven jumpers and cardigans covered in wool fringing.

The Calla brand is international to say the least. Based in Paris, showing as part of Made in New York and Calla Haynes, the designer herself is Canadian, which gives the collections this nomadic essence; they won’t feel out of place anywhere. Even the materials are international, boasting silky lightweight fabrics from Japan and mohair from Italy.

Calla likes to create a story for her collections, delving deep into a narrative that expresses each season. For AW14 the Calla girl is a broken-hearted Parisian who ups and leaves for Memphis to become a country singer. This elaborate tale helped create the varsity jackets, oversized blazers, dresses and skirts the collection is full of. The chunky alpaca knits and mohair plaid are a nod to traditional Americana and provide the perfect juxtaposition of tomboy and feminine that the brand is known for. There was also many more graphic prints than previous seasons. One, is based on Lillybear, Calla’s fluffy companion, a Chow Chow who we met while she guarded the showroom. The Lilly motif finds itself emblazed on sweaters, cardigans, dresses, trousers and coats, in an array of colourways. It’s this fun and light-hearted take on fashion that leaves a smile on your face when wearing Calla.

Sorelli Presents: The Evil Rock N Roll Hollywood Cat

Juliana Sorelli, the young french director who we interviewed when she released her film Pretty Pretty, is launching a store in Hollywood. Technically the store has no name, only a logo, but lets just call it The Evil Rock N Roll Hollywood Cat. Located in a 1920’s blue house just off of Hollywood boulevard, it gives the impression of someone’s living room from that decade, one that has been taken over by a group of punks and jailbirds – an aesthetic also found in her film work. As well as Julianna’s own designs, which consist of custom made denim and leather jackets, embroidered sweatshirts and a basics range, the store will feature pieces by JFO, a new brand by Matthew Damhave who originally started the label Imitation of Christ, a new designer named James Flemons and his brand PHLEMONS and custom made jewellery from her friends. You can also expect to find photographic prints by Brad Elterman, books, zines and other smaller items such as pins, patches and records. In the future Juliana hopes to host events such as screenings, talks, shows and she even has plans of turning another room into a small secret gallery, so keep an eye out.

To celebrate the launch of her unique boutique, the Los Angeles based director has created a film titled Hollywood Lucifer. Watch it below…

Contributors

Twin Team

Becky Smith

Becky Smith is the founder of TWIN and one of Britain’s most in-demand art directors. Since being head-hunted by Vogue at her graduate show at Salford University, in 1998, she’s worked her way up the career ladder at i-D Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and wallpaper, before returning to Condé Nast to art direct their prestigious custom title, The Official Ferrari Magazine, and – time-permitting – help out at Vogue alongside her former boss, respected art director Robin Derrick. @BeckstarSmith

Aimee Farrell

Aimee Farrell is the Features Director of Twin. Aimee currently works as Junior Features Associate at British Vogue, writing on music, art and style.

She has also written for The Daily Telegraph, GQ, FADER and Style.com, and consulted for Rimmel and Sony. In her spare time she is one part of The Voguettes DJ troupe. @aimee_farrell

Celestine Cooney

Twin fashion director Celestine Cooney was born in Ireland and moved to London in 2003. She has worked for Topshop and Preen, as well as styled shows for Ashish and Simone Rocha. @CelestineCooney

India Doyle

India is Online Editor of Twin, and currently works as Fashion Editor at Culture Trip. Based in London, she has previously written for Wonderland, Vogue, Guardian, The Herald and Huffington Post. @officialindiadoyle

Naomi Miller

Naomi Miller is the fashion editor of Twin. The London-based stylist has worked with brands including Nike, Clare Tough and Cecilia Mary Robson.

Kat Barry

Kat is the Commercial Director on Twin. She has previously worked at the Guardian News & Media and ELLE Magazine creating branded content and sponsorship campaigns for the likes of VW, Audi, Universal, Swarovski, Arts Council and The Barbican. Alongside Twin, Kat also runs a Kat&Bee Jewellery and Kat&George Accessories with friend George Northwood. @katandbeejewellery

Francesca Gavin

Francesca Gavin is an art critic and editor based in London. She is the Art Editor of Twin, Visual Arts Editor of Dazed & Confused and a contributing editor at AnOther magazine. She has written art and design articles for publications including Elle, Blueprint, TimeOut, ponystep, wallpaper*, Art Review and Telegraph. She has also written three books – Street Renegades on sculptural street art, Hell Bound: New Gothic Art and Creative Space: The Urban Homes of Artists and Innovators (all published by Laurence King). Alongside curation projects, she is currently working on her fourth book on 100 new international artists. Gavin’s current loves include Graham Greene novels, coffee ice cream and making scrapbooks. @roughversion

Cressida Meale

Cressida Meale is the Online Editor of Twin. Having previously been the Editor of Guardian award-winning social-shopping website Motilo, she then spent a few years abroad working as the Deputy Editor of Grazia Middle East, before moving over to be the Deputy Editor of Stylist Arabia when it launched in 2014. Since returning to London she is now a freelance journalist and editorial consultant, working on a variety of homegrown and international projects – as well as Twin, of course.@cressideuxmille

Emma Cooke

As well as being the Digital Director for Twin, Emma runs Stem Design a design studio creating identity, print and digital campaigns for a variety of arts, fashion & music clients including Roundhouse, Southbank Centre, Barbican, Finders Keepers and Live Nation. She’s currently also the Art Director for le cool London and a member of the Smile studio collective.

Elizabeth Coop

Born in North Manchester, Elizabeth Coop is a freelance writer and social media strategist now based in London. She has taken in roles at Cosmopolitan, matchesfashion.com, Lyst, Dansk and Garage magazine (amongst others). Elizabeth is the Social Media Editor and an Online Writer of Twin.

Photographers

Alexander Binder

German photographer Alexander Binder’s work is full of contrasts. In his images, monochrome and intense colour, dark gothic and psychedelia all mix. With fans including Morel Books and Tim Barber of Tiny Vices fame, expect to see a lot more of Binder’s unique aesthetic.

Alexandra Catiere

Minsk born Alexandre Catiere, explores photography through subtle use of light and classical, elegant framing. Since moving to New York to study at the International Center of Photography in 2002, Alexandre has assisted at the studios of Irving Penn and Yuri Kuper. As well as exhibiting internationally she has shot campaigns for Kenzo, as well as cover art for soul singer Emeli Sande.

Amy Troost

Always slick and super sharp, Canadian photographer Amy Troost has a talent for subtly tough fashion photography. For Twin’s Issue Three she took model Hannelore Knuts on to New York’s streets wearing Comme des Garcons as urban armour and for Issue Four she shot Mirte Maas in black leather and sweat. In 2007 se began her project Casting Portraits. She lives in New York and is married to Alastair McKimm.

Annemarieke van Drimmelen

Annemarieke’s work is a quest to portray real intimacy. Through hints of posture and composition, she teases out subtleties of personality that reveal authenticity in the moment and unite her fashion photography with portraiture. Her own career as a model has given her a fluency in fashion imagery and the confidence to follow her own vision. This combined with her unaffected warmth creates an indefinable and uncommon level of trust with her subjects. Annemarieke van Drimmelen is an Amsterdam native, born to Dutch parents in Australia in 1978. A full-time photographer since 2005, she divides much of her time between London and New York.

Antoine Harinthe

Hanging in the streets, stealing, drinking without thirst, and holding his camera. This is the daily life of 23-year-old Antoine Harinthe, self taught photographer from Paris who cultivates a bastard lifestyle. He worked several years as Assistant Art Director in ad agencies (Ogilvy Paris, Grey Paris). Member of street photography he started to shoot weird scenes, disconcerting situations, or people he met at the corner of a local bar. He works today for fashion magazines and brands. Between new-face and homeless his subjects stand on a tightrope between genuine and rad, and that’s really crappy.

Backyard Bill

Bill Gentle began his work as Backyard Bill in 2008, as a showcase of the interesting people he was meeting, a barometer of what trends were developing and to see how people adapt to the cultural influences around them. This project grew into the photo blog “Backyard Bill” and since then his work has blossomed into one of the most innovative photo blogs around, a combination of photography and interviews that results in a fascinating character study of the subject involved. Bill has been commissioned by magazines such as T: The New York Times and GQ, and he has worked extensively for advertising clients such as Steven Alan, Frye Boots, Petit Bateau, Confezioni Crosby, Opening Ceremony and Happy Socks, creating unique, collaborative content centered on the brand’s appeal. Bill is based in Brooklyn, NY.

Benjamin Alexander Huseby

Norwegian native Benjamin Alexander Huseby has established a prominent name for himself in both the fashion and art worlds since he graduated from London’s Chelsea College of Art. Renowned for it’s rich imagery and fascinating juxtapositions, Huseby’s fashion work has appeared extensively in leading publications such as Acne Paper, Harpers Bazaar USA, British Vogue, Fantastic Man, The Gentlewoman, V Magazine, V Man, Vogue Hommes Japan, Another Magazine, i-D, Butt, and Self Service. Working alongside longtime collaborators that include stylists Mattias Karlsson, Jacob K, Alister Mackie, Nicola Formichetti, Beat Bolliger and Jane How, Huseby has created advertising for leading international brands such as Prada, Zegna, H&M and Uniqlo. Huseby’s personal art work reveals a much more intimate, unsparing approach to photography.

Ben Rayner

Ben Rayner is from London and lives in New York with his wife Lauren Blane and their Cat “Cow Cat”. He has shot for French Vogue, Dazed, and loads more he enjoys making little books, running, travel and cooking. Otherwise you can find him taking pictures of friends and dogs.

Ben Toms

Ben Toms is a London based photographer. Having grown up in Cornwall he moved to London 9 years ago to pursue a career in photography shooting with stylists such as Robbie Spencer, Katie Shillingford, Mattias Karlsson, Jacob K, Marie Chaix and Olivier Rizzo. Clients include Prada, Miu Miu, Ben Sherman, Warehouse, Topshop and Topman. Publications he regularly contributes to include: AnOther, Vogue USA, Vogue Russia, Vogue Homme Japan and Dazed and Confused.

Ben Weller

Following a first class honours in photography from the University of Brighton, Ben Weller moved to London, quickly making a name for himself as a young artist with a fresh eye. He dividing his time between New York and London Ben is a regular contributor to Twin and has has shot Kim Noorda in Americana and Agyness Deyn in a stetson and shearling.

Boo George

Irishman Boo George was once Bruce Weber’s assistant. When he’s not shooting commercial campaigns for design houses such as Louis Vuitton and Wrangler his work features in fashion magazines. For Twin’s first issue he captured Freja Beha Erichsen in leather for Stand and Deliver and has also shot French indie film queen Joana Preiss.

Cass Bird

Cass Bird’s warm, intrepid depiction of her subjects provides new insight into the gritty exuberance of contemporary love and life. Her unforgettable vision has garnered the artist great acclaim. Her photographs feature regularly in international fashion magazines and she has shot campaigns for Converse, Levi’s, Sony, and Nike. Cass made her directorial debut with a film for Sophomore, and for Twin’s Issue III she shot Hanne Gaby at ripping it up at home in cashmere.

Carlotta Manaigo

Italian born and raised, Carlotta Manaigo moved to America to attend the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts/Photography in 2003. Since then she’s built a name for intimate and romantic fashion editorials, such as Love Bomb, Twin’s take on Christopher Kane’s atomic collection and she released neon’s ethereal side in A Brighter Shade of Pale. Her work has been exhibited in Mexico City, Paris, and New York City.

Charles Dennington

Charles Dennington grew up on an overgrown banana farm on the east coast of Australia. He now divides his time between Sydney and Berlin. Charles’ photographic practice is in dialogue with his work as a contemporary sculptor and installation artist and he moves between mediums freely. His portrait photography displays an inventive approach to the depiction of his subjects, to produce simple, engaging and emotive images. Considering his varying creative practice Charles’ work exists in an original way when appearing in various fashion magazines and art journals. For Twin issue VIII Charles shot portraits of Berlin Gallerists Elda Oreto and Nadine Zeidler.

Corinne Day

Corinne Day (19 February 1962 – 27 August 2010), was a British fashion photographer and former fashion model.

Colin Dodgson

Colin Dodgson was born in 1984 in Southern California. In 2006 he moved to New York and began making photographs about awkwardness and humor. In 2009 he put on an exhibition in an empty storefront in the Lower East Side and in 2011 he held another exhibition in a friends Soho apartment. He now splits his time between New York and London and his work has been featured in i-D, Dazed and Confused, and T: The New York Times Magazine among others.

Dan Martensen

Since picking up a camera at a young age in his hometown of Pleasantville, New York Dan Martensen hasn’t stopped shooting. Starting out as an assistant to photographers such as Tom Munro, Stephane Sednaoui and Annie Leibovitz, he’s gone on to shoot some of the world’s biggest models, musicians and artists. For Twin he celebrated the American great outdoors in High Plains Drifter and he is currently in the process of publishing a book of the American landscape.

Danielle Levitt

On moving to New York from Los Angeles in 1993, Danielle Levitt started photographing street fashion for The New York Post. Since then she’d gone on to shoot music stars as well as ad campaigns for Target and Docker’s. Her photography book We Are Experienced was published in 2010 and Danielle shot America’s teen misfits for Issue V of Twin.

Dean Rogers

Dean Rogers has over 10 years of experience in the film industry, working closely with directors such as Shane Meadows and Anton Corbjin. Known for his narrative approach, his film photography tells the story via a cinematic approach to lighting, as seen in his portraits of the This Is England cast featured in Twin and his enigmatic photographs of musician Lone Lady.

Frederik Heyman

Antwerp based photographer Frederik Heyman’s work is a balancing act incorporating multiple media. Frederik’s background as an illustrator/graphic designer is clearly visible in the working process: in each image, every element and action are carefully designed and defined in advance. This reflects in his commissioned works for clients such as KENZO, VOGUE Hommes Japan, Mugler, Mercedes-Benz… as well in his personal, more eclectic oeuvre.

Jason Kibbler

Age 10, Australian born Jason Kibbler started taking photographs of his surroundings. After graduating with a diploma in fine arts, Jason moved to New York where he broke into fashion photography by assisting Steven Klein and honing his talent with David Sims. His punk attitude has seen him shoot Young and Restless for Twin’s Issue IV and for Issue V of TwIn he shot Tati Cotliar and Yuri as a modern-day Brooklyn Sid and Nancy.

Jason Nocito

Jason Nocito was born in Mineola, NY in 1973 and intermittently studied photography at F.I.T. and the New School, finally graduating in 2010. His second book, I Heart Transylvania (Dashwood Books, 2011) is an intimate love story shot over four years in Vancouver, B.C. where his wife Megan lived until 2010. Nocito has shot campaigns for Nike Converse been in numerous national and international group shows, and in January of 2011 had a solo show at Taxter & Spengemann called Party Pit. He lives in New York City.

Jason Pietra

Jason Pietra lives between London and New York, and tries to divide his time evenly but it seems the Americans don’t want him to go anywhere. He has contributed to a varied amount of publications from Twin and British Vogue, to American Harpers, Wired and V Magazine. His commercial clients include Barney’s New York, Sephora, Versace, Burberry and Prada. Jason likes to work on personal projects as much as possible, but it’s been two years since his last gallery show. As well as all this, he has been working on some short films as the Cinematographer, and still manages to find time to surf, but he doesn’t find much time to sleep.

Jermaine Francis

Birmingham born Jermaine Francis studied photography and critical theory at Derbyshire University before moving to London. Since assisting Rankin, and photographers including Steven Klein, Marc Hom, Simon Emmett and Corinne Day, Jermaine has developed his own way of bringing personality to fashion imagery. In his portraits of French femme Josephine de la Baume and DJ and singer Alicat he created photographs that mixed portrait and fashion sensibilities.

Jo Metson Scott

Jo Metson Scott is a London-based photographer and was previously assistant to Kayt Jones. Scott has worked with brands including Nike and is currently completing The Grey Line, a series of portraits of former soldiers documenting the consequences of war. She photographed The Lost World for Twin’s Issue IV.

Judy Linn

Judy Linn was an art student who had just started to make photographs when she began collaborating with Patti Smith. Together they created a series of photographs that echoed film stills and fashion spreads. Judy’s photographs featured in Smith’s memoir Just Kids and more than 100 of her images made up her book Patti Smith 1969-1976.

June Newton

June Browne Newton was born in Melbourne in 1923 and although initially an Australian actress, she later became a successful photographer under the ironic pseudonym “Alice Springs”. The wife of fashion photographer Helmut Newton, she is known for images of celebrities such as Brigitte Nielson and Robert Mapplethorpe.

Kenneth Cappello

Brought up on Houston skateboarding and punk rock scene, Kenneth Cappello’s photography radiates youthful energy. Since 2001 Kenneth has shot campaigns for Nike and Stussy, editorial for international fashion magazines and records featuring the likes of Alicia Keys and The White Stripes amongst others. In 2006 Capello made his directorial debut with The Kills No Wow video and has since shot enigmatic rocker Alison Mosshart for Twin as well as the original indie girl Chloe Sevigny.

Lachlan Bailey

Influenced at an early age by cinematography, Lachlan Bailey’s pictures possess a very personal take on colour, light and beauty. Originally from Australian moved to London and broke into fashion and portrait photography. He is currently based in New York.

Laura Holmes

Laura founded her namesake production company in 2010. It was one of the first to embrace film production for fashion brands and has established a reputation for championing and supporting talented new photographers and directors, matchmaking brands with artists. Based in a studio by the canal in East London, Laura and her team produce motion, stills and select events for fashion and luxury goods brands including Marc Jacobs, Maiyet, Swire Hotels and Louis Vuitton. They produced 3 shoots for issue 8 of Twin (with Annemarieke Van Drimmelen, Ben Weller and Colin Dodgson), and scouted the location for a fourth (with Mel Bles), this instigated several production firsts including the hiring of a toad and of an ambulance. Laura turns 30 on 1st May this year will be celebrating with friends, family, and a menagerie of novelty balloons.

Linda Brownlee

A native of County Kildaire, just outside Dublin, Linda Brownlee’s photography hangs on the relationships she creates with her subjects. For Issue II of Twin she recorded her relationship with her neighbours the Parkers and Linda’s decision to pursue photography while studying for her diploma in fine art, led her to London and a stint assisting portrait photographer Harry Borden in order to build up a body of work. Since then she’s not stopped shooting and has brought her insight to portraits for Twin including feminist Marsha Rowe.

Maciek Kobielski

New York based Maciek Kobielski is a fashion, editorial and lifestyle photographer. A regular contributor to international fashion magazines, his work has a raw and sexy edge.

Mari Sarai

Born in Japan, Mari Sarai went searching for the American dream in LA and in the process discovered photography. Having worked in LA, New York and Tokyo Sarai has shot everything from paparazzo shots to international fashion campaigns. Now living in London Mari has shot Louis Vuitton in East London for Twin and in 2011, NAKED, her book of female nudes was published.

Maria Mochnacz

Maria Mochnacz is a photographer and videomaker who has been working with musicians and bands since 1991. In particular she is known for her close creative relationship with PJ Harvey, both in photographs and videos. Mochnacz works solely in film, preferring process to digital photography.

Mark Kean

Scottish born photographer Mark Kean is based in London. His work is often inspired by characters, a sense of realism and the story behind an image. This sense of narrative is a constant inspiration throughout his work highlighting his film and photography background. His work can be found in titles including Dansk, GQ Style, Hero, I-D and Vogue Japan amongst others.

Mel Bles

London based photographer Mel Bles has been taking photos for over 15 years. A regular contributor to Twin, Mel recorded London’s fashion underground featuring Simone Rocha and Naomi Shimada for It’s a London Thing.

Michael Flores

Photographer and visual artist Michael Flores lives in New York and approaches both commercial and fine art photography with a similar eye in order to create a unique effect. For Twin the California native took Dree Hemingway on a West Coast road trip in Simone Rocha for The Importance of Being Dree. His first solo exhibition of portraits entitled, 4209, took place in 2011.

Michele Rafferty

Michele Rafferty is a Design Consultant and Creative Director, Based in London she regularly commutes to Milan to work with Marni on their menswear line. She shoots for port magazine, iD magazine and is currently shooting a film for V magazine. Working mainly with menswear, her womenswear tends to be influenced by that. She has always been a tomboy.

Neil Bridge

Twin have been working with Neil Bridge since Issue I. The former graphic designer turned photographer shoots “the other side” of art, automotive design and creativity, all over Europe. Based in London, discovery and a fascination with found detail characterise his work.

Niall O’ Brien

Born in Dublin in 1979, Irish photographer and filmmaker Niall O’Brien studied fine art photography at the renowned Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. His visceral project Good Rats featured in Issue I of Twin and in Issue V he took Pixie Geldoff On the Road. The recipient of numerous photography prizes, his most recent film Anger was shown at Block T Gallery in Dublin as part of the 2011 Photo Ireland Festival and will continue on to London in 2012.

Nick Dorey

Nick Dorey photographed Riot Boys for Twin’s Issue IV and Top Girls, as well as The House Of The Rising Sun, for Issue V. The London-based photographer has worked for brands such as Preen and also contributes to publications such as i-D and Russh.

Paul Wetherell

Paul Wetherell photographed Use Your Illusion for Twin’s Issue II, She Bangs The Drums for Issue IV and Theory Of Everything for Issue V. He has shot campaigns for brands such as Barneys, Dunhill and Burberry.

Peter Juhl

Danish photographer Peter Juhl studied photography in Copenhagen before moving to California in 2012. His work has been featured in various publications such as New York Times, LA Times and Politikken, and has also been exhibited in Copenhagen and Los Angeles. A popular series he is known for is his portraits of Daniel Johnston. He is currently based in Los Angeles.

Ross McDonnell

Dublin born Ross McDonnell has worked as a photographer, cinematographer and director. Twice nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award, his film work has screened at festivals around the world, with his documentary, Colony, receiving it’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning the First Appearance Award for first feature film at IDFA in Amsterdam.

Ryan McGinley

New Jersey born Ryan McGinley has created a varied body of work encompassing themes such as skaters, musicians, graffiti artists and candid portraiture. His subjects display a self-awareness that is decidedly contemporary and an understanding of how identity can not only be communicated, but created.

Tara Darby

Tara Darby is a photographer based in London. She has contributed to many international publications including Another, Dazed and Confused, Japanese Vogue, The New York Times, The Telegraph Magazine and was recently part of the Photographers’ Gallery ‘World in London’ exhibition. She has also exhibited at Yonka Shonibare’s Space, Paul Smith’s Globe, The Printspace and Transition Gallery. She has published several books including ‘Delaine Le Bas: Room’, Tutto Lula, ‘We are Only Humans’, ‘Waves’ and ‘Literary Journey: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ which was featured in Another. Her photographs were also used in Jenny Saville’s first monograph published by Rizzoli.

Taryn Simon

New Yorker Taryn Simon’s most recent work, A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters, was exhibited at Tate Modern, London. Her work is characterized by a meticulous research process and a commitment to her ideas. For her project Contraband Taryn lived in John F Kennedy International Airport from November 16 through November 20, 2009. She documented items including counterfeit American Express travelers checks, overproof Jamaican rum, heroin, a dead hawk, an illegal Mexican passport, deer penis, counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags, steroids and an ostrich egg.

The Selby

Todd Selby is a portrait, interiors, and fashion photographer and illustrator. His project The Selby – started in June 2008 – offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces with an artist’s eye for detail. Since then Todd has collaborated with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Hennessy. His first book, The Selby is in Your Place, was released in May 2010. Todd currently lives in New York City. His pastimes include eating four square meals a day, tying his shoes, planning vacations, breaking his computers, and working on his tan.

Thomas Brown

Thomas’s aesthetic is graphic, linear and beautifully simple. Born in Aylesbury in 1981, Thomas Brown graduated from The Arts Institute in Bournemouth in 2004. Following a move to London he worked in-house at Condé Nast and as an assistant to Dan Tobin Smith. He uses his cameras as facilitators of his ideas, looking for visual humour, playing with illusion and surface.

Thomas Giddings

Thomas Giddings is a photographer who graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2007. His first ever camera was a snappy-snaps disposable which he bought for a trip to Los Angeles when he was 6, and so started an ever growing passion for photography and travel. Thomas has shot for various clients including British Vogue, i-D, Nowness, Twin, Hercules and Garage. He balances this with personal projects and is currently working on his third solo photography show and accompanying book to launch in 2014.

Tim Barber

Tim Barber grew up in Amherst Massachusetts, lived for a few years in the mountains of Northern Vermont, studied photography in Vancouver B.C. and now lives in New York City. A photographer, curator and designer, Barber runs the online gallery and image archive Tiny Vices, which he founded in 2005. For Issue IV of Twin he shot NYC artist and contemporary Aurel Schmidt

Trevor Good

Lives and works in Berlin.

Will Davidson

New York based photographer and director Will Davidson works principally in fashion but defies categorisation. His work encompasses advertising, film, web 2.0, fine art and contemporary dance. Having studied at Sydney College of the Arts, Will moved to London and in 2000 met David Bailey and was appointed his first assistant. Since then he has published the books, Locations in 2004 and Democracy in 2005. For Issue III of Twin Will deconstructed both movement and tailoring in his contemporary dance inspired editorial Let’s Dance.

Writers

Alannah Sparks

Alannah Sparks is a freelance writer and fashion editor living in East London. Having previously worked as acting online fashion editor at ELLE, her writing on fashion, culture, nightlife and travel has appeared in publications such as Stylist, Grazia, WWD, ELLE, The Irish Times, Daily Candy, Vogue.co.uk and Twenty6.

Ana Finel Honigman

Ana Finel Honigman is a New York-born and London/Berlin-based critic and independent exhibition curator. She writes about contemporary art and fashion for international magazines. A Sarah Lawrence graduate, Ana has completed a Masters degree and is a D.Phil candidate in the History of Art at Oxford University.

Amy Sackville

Amy Sackville studied English and theatre studies at Leeds University, before completing an MA at Oxford’s Exeter College, before taking a job in the publishing industry. She also studied an MPhil in creative writing at London’s Goldsmiths College. Amy’s debut novel The Still Point won the 2010 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.

Bethan Cole

Bethan Cole has worked for the Sunday Times Style and Vogue. She is currently Grooming Editor of GQ Style, Editor of Aesop Register and a columnist for aMUSE magazine.

Catherine Redfern

Catherine Redfern founded The F-Word and was Editor from 2001-2007. She is from Tameside, Manchester and has been living in London for about ten years, much to her parents’ annoyance. She co-authored Reclaiming The F Word: The New Feminist Movement, a book about the resurgence and reclamation of feminism over the last ten years, today’s issues and today’s feminist activism. The book was published in June 2010 by Zed Books.

Eleanor Morgan

Eleanor Morgan is a Contributing Editor on Observer Food Monthly.

Freire Barnes

Freire Barnes is a freelance arts writer, online video interviewer and curator. She also works on a variety of Curatorial and Public Art Projects. She reported on arts celluloid junkies for Issue IV of Twin.

Daisy Garnett

Daisy Garnett is an arts and style journalist as well as contributing editor to Vogue. In her gap year she hiked through Bolivia , Chile and Peru. In between times – among other things – she has sailed from New York across the Atlantic in a 48 foot boat, crossed the desert from Palmyra to Damascus on camel, travelled with the Royal Navy to the North Pole. She is the author of Cooking Lessons: Tales from the Kitchen and Other Stories.

Francesca Martin

Francesca Martin is co-founder of A-LittleBird.com and contributing editor to Harper’s Bazaar. She has written for The Guardian, Intelligent Life and Vogue.

Hannah Nixon

Born in Brighton, Hannah Nixon is a freelance writer and editor based in London. She specialises in menswear and has worked with mrporter.com, NOWNESS, HERO AND Varon magazine among others. Her middle name is Leoncé, which she used to hate but now loves because it rhymes with Beyonce.

Jack J Hutchinson

London based Jack J Hutchinson is an artist, writer and educator. A specialist in the role of digital technology within the visual arts, his writing has featured in a diverse range of publications, including Dazed and Confused, Garageland, the Guardian, Twin Magazine, a-n Magazine and Schweizer Kunst. His drawings have been exhibited internationally and are held in various private collections throughout the UK.

Jackie Kay

Jackie Kay was born and brought up in Scotland. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University and has won many awards for her numerous works such as the Guardian Fiction Award, the Forward Prize, a Saltire prize and a Scottish Arts Council Prize and has been shortlisted for the JR Ackerley prize and the London Book Award as well as others. She was awarded an MBE in 2006, and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. Her new book of short stories Reality, Reality was recently published by Picador.

Jem Goulding

Jem Goulding is a poet, story teller and hopeless romantic. She writes words and takes pictures and more recently is combining her words and pictures for film-making, with traditional sensibilities. As a music journalist, she was instrumental in breaking acts such as Black Lips, Mumford & Sons and Warpaint into the media, before their mass popularity. She is due to release The Companion, a book of her photographs and memoirs spanning five years of travel and its intimate romances.

Karley Sciortino

New York based Karley Sciortino started her blog Slutever in 2007. Focusing on the darker aspects of sex that aren’t necessarily discussed over lunch with your mother, Slutever is an investigation into modern sexual behavior. Karley also writes music and culture articles for international magazines.

Kevin Braddock

Former Features Editor of The Face, Kevin Braddock is a graduate of Goldsmiths College with a First Class Degree in European Languages. For Twin he’s interviewed Shane Meadows, Dean Rogers and LoneLady. He also edits biannual men’s magazine Manzine.

Kristin Aune

Kristin Aune is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Derby and co-author (with Catherine Redfern) of Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement (Zed Books).

Lauren Cochrane

East London based Lauren Cochrane, was i-D’s Deputy Editor from 2006-2008. A journalist since 2000 and a Londoner since the age of six, Lauren is passionate about art, music and youth culture. She first put her skills to use for the magazine in 2004. Today, she is a freelance fashion and style writer.

Lauren Sherman

Brooklyn-based journalist Lauren Sherman mostly writes about business and fashion, or the intersection thereof. She has contributed to Forbes, Businessweek, and Ad Age, as well as Fashionista.com, Style.com, and Lucky, among others. She lives and works from her Vinegar Hill loft alongside her husband and maltipoo.

Marsha Rowe

Marsha Rowe was a co-founding editor of Spare Rib and was also involved in starting Virago, the first women’s publishing house in the UK. As freelance editorial consultant she works with new writers, experienced authors switching genres, and helps writers of both fiction and non-fiction to find successful publication.

Monique Todd

Monique Todd is freelance music and arts writer, regularly contributing to Dazed and Confused and Hunger TV. She has interviewed artists such as A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Emeli Sande, Toro Y Moi and Bondax. Former Online Editor at Live Magazine with in an interest in space and exibitions, Monique has curated at Boxpark Shoreditch and sits on the Editorial board for the Louis Vuitton young arts project ‘RE-Creative’. She is currently completing a BA in English Literature and Media.

Natasha Walter

Natasha Walter is a British feminist writer and human rights activist. She is the author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism and The New Feminism. She Natasha Walter lives in London with her partner and their two children. She is the director of Women for Refugee Women.

Mélanie Crété

Mélanie Crété is a (French) London-based strategist in Digital Communications in the fashion and luxury market. She truly loves: her friends, her Mac, sunsets, Mariah Carey, big leather bags, Phoenix, gems, the smell of Amber and Jasmin, Chanel, Françoise Hardy, all shades of blue, Guy Bourdin, LCD Soundsystem, Gold, and a bit of tackyness.
She truly hates: too many things…

Paul Kneale

Paul Kneale is an artist and writer based in London. He tweets @paulkneale

Ruth Saxelby

Ruth Saxelby is a music journalist based in Brixton, London. She has hung out with Grimes in Vancouver for Dazed & Confused’s cover feature, written about Drake’s YouTube sampling for The Guardian and interviewed everyone from Actress to The xx for Dummy, where she is an associate editor. A regular contributor to Pitchfork, she also does a monthly show on local radio station NTS. She interviewed new pop duo AlunaGeorge for Twin VIII.

Shelia Rowbotham

Sheila Rowbotham is a British socialist feminist theorist and writer. Rowbotham was born in Leeds, the daughter of a salesman for an engineering company and an office clerk. Towards the end of the 1960s she had become involved in the growing Women’s Liberation Movement and, in 1969, published her influential pamphlet “Women’s Liberation and the New Politics”. The author of numerous books in 2009 her biography of Edward Carpenter was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Simon Rich

New York raised Simon Rich is an American humorist, novelist, and television writer, best known for being the youngest writer ever hired on Saturday Night Live and writing the Thurber Prize-nominated humor collection Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations.

Sloane Crosley

Sloane Crosley is a writer living in New York and the author of the best-selling collections of essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. She also worked as a publicist at the Vintage Books division of Random House. In 2011 Sloane appeared as herself on the television show Gossip Girl.

Stephanie Theoabld

Stephanie Theoabld is a journalist and author of four novels. Her latest, A Partial Indulgence, about obsessive love and the excesses of the art world, was written after her 4-year stint as Society Editor of Harper’s Bazaar.

Susanna Davies-Crook

Susanna Davies-Crook is an artist and art writer based in London and Berlin. She is Contributing Visual Arts Editor at Dazed & Confused Magazine, Contributing Editor at Berlin-based Sleek Magazine, and Art Editor for Exberliner Magazine. Having studied Fine Art and History of Art at Camberwell College of Arts [UoA London], University of Leeds and University of California, Berkeley she is studying for an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. In the past she has been nominated for a TotalTheatre award at Edinburgh Festival 2010, shortlisted for Dazed/Converse Emerging Artists Award 2010-2012, judged the Dazed/Casio Art Award 2012 and worked on projects for The James Taylor Gallery, The Hayward Gallery, The Museum of Everything and cross-platform projects for Coney.

Susie Orbach

Susie Orbach, the psychotherapist and writer, co-founded The Women’s Therapy Centre in 1976. Her work on eating problems spans many professional journals and books including Fat is a Feminist Issue 1978, Fat is a Feminist Issue II 1982, Hunger Strike 1986 and On Eating 2002. Her latest book Bodies, was published in January 2009.

Victoria Floethe

Victoria is the founder of The Desire Project, an interview series and website about girls and what they want in life, love, and in bed. She attended Vassar College, and has worked for Vanity Fair and written for Slate, the Guardian, and the Spectator. She lives in New York City.

Stylists

Alastair McKimm

Hailing from Belfast, Alastair McKimm graduated with a BA in Fashion from Nottingham Trent. A former assistant to Edward Enninful and Twin fashion editor, he styled Her Dark Materials for Issue IV.

Clare Shilland

Based in London, Clare continues to explore the links between fashion and portraiture in her editorial work for magazines such as i-D, French Elle and Beat. Her most recent commission for Milanese fashion house, Marni, is a soon-to-be-released book, art directed by Dean Langley.

Gillian Wilkins

Gillian Wilkins styled Stand And Deliver for Twin’s Issue I and Pussy Galore for Issue II. She grew up in Brisbane, Australia and is currently fashion director at Russh.

Hanna Kelifa

Hanna Kelifa is a stylist living and working in London. In 2006 she joined Edward Enninful’s team and went on to work as his first assistant for a number of years. Later joining the iconic I-D magazine as Womenswear editor before going on to become a freelance stylist. Contributing to publications including American Vogue, W, i-D, Twin, Vogue Russia, L’Uomo Vogue, Russh and Exit. With a client list that includes Armani Jeans, Aquascutum, Paul Smith Jeans, Stella McCartney for Adidas, Topshop and Burberry.

Heathermary Jackson

Born and raised in New Zealand, Heathermary Jackson moved to London to pursue a career as a fashion stylist. While her first independent projects appeared in Dazed & Confused, Heathermary eventually accepted a position as a fashion editor at Face Magazine. Two years after being promoted to fashion director at Face, Heathermary decided to help launch America Magazine- a choice that involved relocating to New York. Heathermary has contributed to magazines such as American Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, Arena Homme Plus, British Elle, Numero Tokyo and Purple Fashion. She also works with a top-tiered list of photographers, including Steven Klein and Terry Richardson. Today she is the fashion director at Hobo.

Joanna Schlenzka

British stylist Joanna Schlenzka graduated from Edinburgh University in 2000 where she studied English Literature, and promptly started her career as Fashion Editor at the influential London magazine Dazed & Confused, where she was soon promoted to the role of Senior Fashion Editor. After five years working full-time at Dazed & Confused, Joanna took on a contributing position at Dazed and Another Magazine in order to concentrate on her freelance work. Other magazines that Joanna contributes to include Harper’s UK, US Vogue, British Vogue, Chinese Vogue, Russian Vogue, Japanese Vogue, Vogue Taiwan, Muse, 10 Magazine, Interview, Ponystep and Lula. Joanna has also styled shows for Mark Fast, Todd Lynn, Felder Felder, Jenny Packham, Yiqing Yin and Jasmine di Milo. In 2011 Joanna became the Fashion Director of Mixt(e) magazine.

Joanne Blades

Joanne Blades styled Bound For Glory in Twin’s Issue V. Her other projects include working on Jill Stuart’s runway shows and advertising campaigns.

Michelle Cameron

Michelle Cameron styled Alison Mosshart for Road Kill in Issue III of Twin Magazine and Chloë Sevigny Kick-Ass in Issue IV. She has also worked on campaigns for brands such as Karen Walker Eyewear.

Moses Moreno

Moses Moreno styled Dree Hemingway for the Importance Of Being Dree in Twin’s Issue III. He has previously worked with celebrities such as Maria Bello.

Robert Storey

Robert is a London based set designer, working within the international fashion industry. His clients include Kenzo, Victoria Beckham, Pollini, Jaeger, Harvey Nichols, Stella McCartney, Nicholas Kirkwood and Topshop. He has been commissioned for publications including British Vogue, AnOther magazine, i-D, POP, Nowness and V MAN with photography collaborations including Angelo Panetta, Daniel Sannwald, Tyrone Lebon, Scott Trindle, Josh Olins and Matt Irwin.

Ruth Higginbotham

Ruth Higginbotham was born in Dublin but is now based in London. She styled Song Of Myself for Twin’s Issue II and has worked with brands including Vans and Fred Perry, as well as styled celebrities such as Erin O‘ Connor, Zara Philips and Amber Anderson.

Sam s

Sam Ranger styled The Look Of Love for Twin’s Issue IV. Formerly fashion editor of POP, he is now fashion director of EXIT magazine and has worked with House Of Holland.

Sara Moonves

Sara Moonves is a stylist and Senior Fashion Editor at T, The New York Times Style Magazine. Her career began at American Vogue assisting Executive Fashion Director Phyllis Posnick. She is also a Senior Contributing Fashion Editor at POP and contributes to i-D. She is from Los Angeles but lives in New York.

Tracey Nicholson

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland Tracey moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins. Upon graduating she began her career at Dazed & Confused and Another Magazine assisting Fashion Director Alister Mackie. She then moved to New York to assist Tabitha Simmons with her freelance projects and at American Vogue. Tracey began working independently in 2010 and contributes to publications such as W, Dazed & Confused, Muse, Another Magazine, The Last Magazine, Dossier, American Vogue and Teen Vogue. Her range of commercial clients include Costume National, Burberry, Edun, Topshop, Lacoste, Kipling, Biotherm, Sunspel, Uniqlo, Nike and Swarovski. Tracey currently resides between London and New York.

Zoe James

Zoe James styled The Girl Can’t Help It for Twin’s Issue II and has also worked on campaigns for Emporio Armani, Liberty, Louis Vuitton and Nike, as well as shows for Holly Fulton and Topshop.

Artists

Alex Hubbard

Alex Hubbard contributed to Cut Copy in Twin Issue IV. The NY-based artist is known for his multi-directional video work. Hubbard has previously exhibited at galleries including the Palais de Tokyo, Whitney Museum of American Art and PS1.

Amie Dicke

Amie Dicke is a Rotterdam-based artist who completed a degree in Fine Art at the Willem de Kooning Academy of Fine Arts and specialises in image modification. She contributed to Ninety-Nine Years Of Solitude in Twin Issue II.

Angelika Markul

Angelika Markul’s work combines painting, videos and installation. She has exhibited at the Chatelet Theatre, BWA Gallery and the Fondation Cartier. Markul’s work was featured in Celluloid Junkies of Twin Issue IV.

Annie Morris

Annie Morris is a painting, sculpture and collage artist whose training includes the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts and The Slade. She has exhibited at the Allsopp Contemporary, Jeannie Freilich Fine Art gallery and The Daniel Katz Gallery. Morris contributed to Ninety-Nine Years Of Solitude in Twin Issue II.

Andrea Longacre-White

Andrea Longacre-White continues her interest in the photography/technology/digital meditation nexus. Longacre-White is based in Los Angeles, but studied at the Royal College of Art and received a BA from Hampshire College. She has exhibited in galleries and museums internationally.

Aurel Schmidt

Aurel Schmidt is a NY-based artist who specialises in drawing and has exhibited at galleries such as The Fireplace Project and Deitch Projects. Schmidt was featured in There’s Something About Aurel of Twin Issue IV.

Clunie Reid

Clunie Reid is a London-based artist who has exhibited at Tate Britain and Focal Point Gallery. Her photo collage work is known for its deliberate use of cheap materials and fragmentation. Reid was featured in Dirty Sexy Clunie of Twin Issue IV.

Conrad Ventur

Video installation artist Conrad Ventur was featured in Celluloid Junkies of Twin Issue IV. His art education includes a MFA at Goldsmiths College and he has since exhibited at galleries such as Momenta Art and ICA.

David Noonan

Originally from Australia, David Noonan is a now London-based collage artist. He has exhibited at galleries including the Chisenhale Gallery, David Kordansky Gallery and Palais de Tokyo. Noonan was featured in Something From Nothing in Twin Issue I.

Eli Cortiñas

Eli Cortiñas is a Cologne-based film artist who was featured in Celluloid Junkies of Twin Issue IV. A winner of the Award for Young Artists of the Country of NRW in 2009, she has exhibited at The Young Art Fair in Basel and Guggenheim Gallery, as well as had screenings at the Centre Pompidou and European Media Art Festival.

Eve Marie Rødbro

Danish photographer and video Eva Marie Rødbro has previously exhibited at the Trajector Art Fair, FOAM and Peter Lav Gallery. She won the Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for Emerging Experimental Video Artist in 2011. Rødbro was featured in Cut Copy of Twin Issue V.

Fiona Banner

Sculpture, drawing and installation artist Fiona Banner graduated from Goldsmiths College. The YBA was short-listed for the Turner Prize in 2002 and has since been commissioned for artwork at Tate Britain and exhibited at galleries such as MoMa. Banner contributed to Peep Show in Twin Issue I.

Friedrich Kunath

Los Angeles-based artist Friedrich Kunath is a multimedia artist working with scuplture, painting, video and drawing techniques. He has exhibited at galleries including the Hammer Museum, White Cube and Andrea Rosen Gallery. Kunath contributed to It’s All Too Beautiful in Twin Issue V.

Garance Doré

French fashion blogger, photographer and illustrator Garance Doré founded her immensely successful, self-titled blog in 2006. Since then, Doré has photographed campaigns for brands like Tiffany’s & Co., Petit Bateau and Moschino. She was featured in J’adore Doré in Twin Issue I.

Harry Malt

Harry Malt is a London-based artist and illustrator who has worked for the likes of Colette Paris and McCann Erickson. He contributed to It’s A Wrap in Twin Issue I.

Immodesty Blaize

Burlesque dancer Immodesty Blaize (born Kelly Fletcher) was featured in The Age Of Ambition in Twin Issue III. She has performed at venues such as the Royal Opera House and with bands such as Goldfrapp, as well as produced the feature length documentary Burlesque Undressed. She is also the author of two novels, Tease: the Secrets of a Showgirl and Ambition.

Jen Ray

Hailing from South Carolina, Jen Ray is a printmaking,painting and photography artist based in Berlin. She has exhibited at galleries such as Grim Museum, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin and Temporary Space. Ray contributed to The Age Of Ambition in Twin Issue III.

Kate Merry

Kate Merry is a London-based illustrator, painter and sculptor. Her work was featured in House Classics in Twin Issue II and Ride On Time in Issue IV.

Linder Sterling

Linder Sterling is a visual and performance artist, as well as musician. Known for her feminist roots, she is co-founder of the fanzine Secret Public and of the post-ounk group Ludus. She has exhibited at Cleveland Gallery, Stuart Shave/Modern Art and the Tate Gallery. Sterling contributed to Female Intuition in Twin Issue II.

Louise Bourgeois

Louise Joséphine Bourgeois is a French-American artist and sculptor, known for her contribution to the genre of confessional and LGBT equality-promoting art, which was exhibited at art galleries such as Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Tate Modern and the Centre Georges Pompidou before she passed away in 2010. Bourgeois was featured in Ninety-Nine Years Of Solitude in Twin Issue II.

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes is a designer, typographer, writer and illustrator based in Canada. She has worked for the likes of Saks Fifth Avenue, Ogilvy & Mather Chicago and The New York Times. She contributed to The Age Of Ambition in Twin Issue III.

Matt Lipps

Matt Lips is a San Francisco-based photography artist who has exhibited at Josh Lilley Gallery, Silverman Gallery and Harvey Levin Gallery to name a few. His work is part of the LACMA and Hammer Museum permanent collections. Lipps contributed to Cut Copy in Twin Issue V.

Peter Blake

Sir Peter Thomas Blake is an English pop artist, known especially for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He has previously exhibited at the Tate Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts and Pallant House Gallery and was honoured with a CBE and knighthood for his work in the arts sector. Blake was featured in Songs Of Innocence And Experience in Twin Issue I.

Rose Blake

Rose Blake is a London-based illustrator and a member of the This Is It collective. She has previously worked for The Times, It’s Nice That Magazine and the BBC website. Blake was featured in Songs Of Innocence And Experience in Twin Issue I.

Sam Griffin

Sam Griffin is a London-based artist specialising in drawing who has exhibited at Gallery Vela, Galerie Schirman de Beaucé and City Arts Centre. He was featured in Super Future City of Twin Issue I.

Sam Winston

Working with sculptures and drawings, Sam Winston’s work has been exhibited at galleries like the Courtauld Institute of Art. He is also an author whose books can be found in the special collections of museums such as the MoMA New York and Tate Galleries. Winston was featured in Word Up of Twin Issue I.

Seb Patane

Sicilian-born and London-based artist and DJ Seb Patane has exhibited at galleries such as the Belvedere and Augarten Contemporary, Tate Britain and Maureen Paley. Patane contributed to Spellbound in Twin Issue I.

Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle is a French installation/ conceptual artist, writer and photographer. She has previously exhibited at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Whitechapel Art Gallery and Museum of Modern Art Bahia. Calle was featured in Double Vision of Twin Issue III.

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin, a member of the YBA movement and previous Turner Prize nominee, has exhibited her work at galleries such as the Hayward Gallery, White Cube, Gagosian and Royal Academy, where she is currently Professor of Drawing. She is also an author and known for her continuous charity involvement. Emin contributed to Ninety-Nine Years Of Solitude in Twin Issue II.

Poets

Aviva Dautch

Aviva Dautch is a London-based poet and Creative Educator for the British Library. She regularly contributes to Poetry Review and her work has been published in magazines including Modern Poetry in Translation and The Long Poem. Dautch’s work was featured in The Letter Set of Twin’s Issue IV.

Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright, as well as Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University. She was appointed Britain’s poet laureate in 2009 and has previously won the Scottish Arts Council Award, the Somerset Maugham Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize. Duffy’s work was featured in Rhymes & Reasons of Twin’s Issue I.

Francesca Beard

Francesca Beard was born in Malaysia and currently resides in London. A performance poet, she has toured internationally with her show Chinese Whispers and has written plays for BBC Radio 4. She runs international creative writing workshops with the British Council Live Literature Department and has been writer in residence at institutions including the Barbican. Her work was published in Female Intuition of Twin Issue II.

Jo Shapcott

Jo Shapcott was featured in The Letter Set of Twin Issue IV. She is a poet, editor and lecturer and has won awards such as the National Poetry Competition, Costa Book of the Year and the Forward Poetry Prize.

Her most recent body of work, The Transformers, was published in 2011.

Kate Potts

Kate Potts is a poet whose work has been featured in Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century and she has been shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award. Her debut body of work Bloodaxe was published in 2011. Potts’ work appeared in The Letter Set of Twin Issue IV.

Kate Tempest

Kate Tempest is a rapper, poet and playwright. A band member of Sound of Rum, she has performed at festivals including Glastonbury and Latitude, and performed her poetry on Radio One and the BBC6 Music show. Tempest was featured in Peckham’s Prophet of Twin Issue II.

Sophie Robinson

Sophie Robinson is a London-based multimedia poet and performer. Her debut book Les Figues was published in 2009. She is currently completing a novel-length publication, SHE!, which explores lesbianism in popular culture. Her work was featured in Word Up of Twin’s Issue III.

Singers/Musicians

Alejandra Deheza

Alejandra Deheza was featured in Twins And The Double of Twin’s Issue Issue III. Born in Guatemala, the New York-based singer is member of the group School Of Seven Balls.

Alison Mosshart

Alison Mosshart is the lead singer for indie rock band The Kills and was featured in Issue III of Twin. Born in 1978, she started performing in 1995 with punk band Discount and later co-founded The Kills with Jamie Hince in 2000. She is also performs as part of The Dead Weather, founded by Jack White.

Kathleen Hanna

Known as the lead singer of Riot Grrrl band Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna is a also a feminist activist and writer. She is also member of the group Le Tigre and started a solo project, The Julie Ruin, in 1997. Hanna was featured in This Is Not A Test of Twin Issue V.

Katy Goodman

Katy Goodman is a member of New York-based band Vivian Girls and formed the musical side project All Saints Day with Gregg Foreman. She started her solo project La Sera in August 2010. Goodman was featured in Issue IV of Twin.

Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh was featured in The Age Of Ambition of Twin Issue III. Born in Atlanta, Georgia the musician and author is known for her her solo acoustic performances and as lead singer of the alternative rock band Throwing Muses. Her memoirs Rat Girl were released in 2010.

Lonelady

Lonelady (real name: Julie Campbell) is an English, post-punk musician whose debut album Nerve Up was released in 2010. A Fine Arts graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, she was interviewed for Song Of Myself in Issue II of Twin.

Patti Smith

Patti Smith was featured in The Female Gaze of Twin Issue IV. Born in Chicago in 1946, the singer, poet, author and artist is also known as the ‘Godmother of Punk’. Her most famous album was the 1976 release Horses. Smith, whose memoirs Just Kids won her the National Book Award, is currently working on a London-set crime novel.

PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey was featured in Twin’s Issue IV piece The Female Gaze. PJ Harvey is an alternative rock musician and artist who started her career in 1988 and has released 10 albums to date. Recent work includes Let England Shake, produced in collaboration with photo-journalist Seamus Murphy.

Soko

Stéphanie Sokolinski, aka Soko,was born and raised in France. She released her first single in 2007, has toured with M.I.A. and founded her own record label Babycat Records. Her debut album I Thought I Was An Alien is due for release on February 20th 2012. She has acted in French television series and films such as À L’origine by Xavier Giannoli. Soko was featured in in Bright Star of Twin’s
Issue I.

Film Makers

Alexandra McGuinness

The Dublin-born, London-based director made her successful debut with the film Lotus Eaters at Tribeca Film Festival. A graduate from the London Film School, she is currently working on her second feature film. McGuinness was featured in Top Girls in Twin Issue V.

Céline Sciamma

Céline Sciamma is a French film director and screenwriter. Her most recent work includes Tomboy, Pauline and Water Lilies. She contributed to If I Were A Boy in Twin Issue V.

Miranda July

Miranda July is a filmmaker, writer and artist whose work has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum. Her first feature film Me and You and Everyone We Know garnered her awards at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festival. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker and been honoured with the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. July contributed to The Age Of Aquarius in Twin Issue I.

Quentin Jones

Quentin Jones is a London-based filmmaker and illustrator. A former Cambridge philosophy graduate, she specialises in surrealist animation. She has worked with the lieks of Chanel, Holly Fulton and Rankin. Jones was featured in Top Girls in Twin Issue V.

Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows is a BAFTA award-winning director, screenwriter and actor. With his semi-autobiographical angle and post-modern style, he is most well-known for his film This Is England. Meadows was featured in Once Upon A Time In The Midlands in Twin Issue III.

Actresses

Chloë Sevigny

Actress, model and fashion designer Chloë Sevigny made her debut in the controversial 1995 film Kids. Since then Sevigny has garnered an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe win for roles in films such as Boys Don’t Cry and television shows like Big Love. Sevigny was featured in Kick-Ass of Twin Issue IV.

Joana Preiss

Born in Marseille, Joana Preiss began her career in acting but was later discovered by Karl Lagerfeld as a model. Since then, she has starred in films such as The Unpolished, Paris, Je T’Aime and her own directorial debut Sibérie. Her latest film is the soon to be released Mary’s Ride directed by Thomas Imbach. Preiss was featured in The Preiss Is Right inTwin Issue II.

Joséphine De La Baume

Joséphine De La Baume has acted in films such as The Princess of Montpensier by Bertrand Tavernier, Our Day Will Come and One Day. She also performs as the singer and keyboard player of the band SINGTANK and modelled for brands such as Zadig & Voltaire and Agent Provocateur. De La Baume was featured in The Look Of Love in Twin Issue IV.

Kaya Scodelario

Kaya Scodelario is most well-known for her role on the television show Skins. She made her feature film debut in the 2009 film Moon opposite Sam Rockwell and has since acted in films such as Shank, Clash of the Titans and Wuthering Heights. Her most recent projects include Twenty8k, Stay With Me, Invisible and Love Life. Scodelario was featured in The Girl Can’t Help It in Twin Issue II.

Yasmin Paige

London-born Yasmin Paige began her career as a model at the age of four and debuted as an actress in 2003 with the film Wondrous Oblivion. Since then she has starred in the television show The Sarah Jane Adventures, Ballet Shoes and Submarine. Paige was featured in Top Girls in Twin Issue V.

The Skin I’m In

The best thing you can wear is your skin. A phrase coined almost by accident by Italian bag designer Barbara Boner: “It just popped into my head without me even thinking about it,” Barbara says. “I’m now 37 and at a stage in my life where I am completely comfortable in the skin I’m in – What I would love is if all women had the self-believe and self-assurance to believe in this too. I like to think that I can communicate with my customer through my brand motto.”

In March 2009, Barbara launched her first collection; a series of animal skin fringed bags aimed at the nomadic woman and inspired by the excitement of adventure and travel from both her own experiences and those belonging to her gypsy grandmother: “She was a traveller with the circus in which her act involved driving a motorcycle around a ring of fire.”

As Boner continues to elaborate on her family’s curiously unusual story, I am intrigued to know more about hers…

You’re originally from Italy — when and why did you decide to make the move to London?
I first moved to London with my parents when I was four years old but we only stayed for a couple of years. Being in London is actually one of my earliest memories. I remember that I loved the parks, in particular I loved the squirrels – we don’t have them in Italy!

Four years ago I was living in Ibiza where I met my husband – he’s from London so that’s why I decided to move here permanently.

You are professionally trained in psychology — what effect has this had on your design work?
I try to see the woman wearing my bags through both women’s eyes and men’s. I think I have quite a strong masculine vision of things as well as a feminine one.

I also studied Latin and Greek so that trained my mind to think with concepts. With my work there’s always a theory behind things – an imaginary world that supports my brand and designs. I enjoy creating this world each season just as much as creating the bags.

Each of your collections are centred around an imagined inspirational woman — tell me about the latest for spring / summer 2013…
The woman I have conceived for this season is totally connected to her environment and nature, so much so that she can morph her human-self into an animal but also a plant – She is both flora and fauna.

Sum up your label’s aesthetic in 3 words…
Rebel, regal and romantic.

Thanks to a stylish celebrity following including the likes of Kate Moss, Poppy Delevingne and Olivia Palermo, you’ve become the ‘go to girl’ for fringed bags — why did you decide to focus on fringing as your signature?
My mother was a hippy and was always wearing fringing so when I created my first collection I decided to feature it in homage to her. Everyone loved that aspect of it so I thought ‘OK – you want fringing – I will give you fringing!’

Also for me it means freedom and movement; the Native Americans have used fringing for centuries to disguise themselves as animals and plants for hunting purposes. So yet again it’s bringing back this idea of nature, flora and fauna.

Who are some of your favourite women from both the past and present?
I’m a massive Kate (Moss) fan. I also love women of the 60s like Bridget Bardot and Anita Pallenberg. My most recent bag design is called the ‘Tura’ after Tura Santana who was an actress and one of the first famous exotic dancers – She was truly revolutionary for her time and has the most incredible life story.

All my bags are named after strong and powerful women: There’s ‘The Ginger’ (inspired by Sharon Stone’s character in Casino), ‘The Roxanne’ (thanks to The Police song) and ‘The Lilith’ (who according to a Rabbinic legend was the disregarded first wife of Adam.)

How do you juggle running a business and being a full time mother?
It’s been difficult because I moved to London, started my label, and got pregnant all around the same time. But I just went for it and made it work – it’s amazing what us women can do!

Where are you stocked?
My pieces are stocked in over 50 locations worldwide. In the UK I’m in Feathers, London and Coggles, York as well as my own online store.

Stoned

Imagine being able to own a piece of jewellery that feels as special as a precious mineral formation or a breath-taking sunset. Jade Mellor, a talented young Designer and Maker- not to mention prolific one woman trinket band – from North West England, creates covetable pieces of statement jewellery from her magical little workshop deep within the English countryside. With an inspiring creative perspective and care for material, Jade crafts each piece by hand to ensure they each have a unique history and emotional value. Her striking work’s inevitably received a lot of attention and has been exhibited and stocked globally – from London to Dubai to San Francisco.

Twin spoke to Jade about her work…

Your Hewn collection of rings is always expanding and intriguing. How do you develop the collection?
Each piece is an experiment to find new textures by pushing the materials. I love discovering new things that I can use and feel that working with raw minerals, and other natural materials, in each original piece, adds to their uniqueness.

What materials have you used recently?
Recently I’ve been inspired by the Galaxy. By using a fragment of a real meteorite it makes you question the journey it’s made through space and time. To use this in something that can be worn everyday excites me – it’s like carrying around a little reminder that there are bigger things around you.

Do you have to seek out the inspiration for each piece or does it find you?
Both, but it helps to have an enquiring mind. When I acquire a specimen to use you will see me holding it up, feeling the weight and placing it on my hand, imagining how it would work as a wearable piece. Looking at how it occurs naturally is also an influence. The way pyrite naturally forms in cubes jutting out at odd angles is so sculptural. I have shelves of books on minerals with amazing close ups and the vast landscapes they form in. I’ll also spend hours wide eyed sketching rare specimens in natural history departments and on outdoor adventures.

What other things influence you?
Sculpture is a massive influence on me, particularly the Neo Concretist movement and also artists like Louise Nevelson. With the Isosceles ring I was thinking of ancient Egypt, the geometry of the pyramids combined with the textures brought on by being blasted by sand dunes over thousands of years. This combined with the use of Lapis lazuli and gold in ancient treasure filled tombs also gave me the colour. I mixed a pigment inspired by this strong blue.

How do you go about making your ideas a reality in jewellery form?
When I get back to the workshop, I might make some drawings, looking closely at the structure and create some first-hand scribbles on how I want it to look as a piece. Photography is a great tool too; in order to understand the angles and textures.

There is a basic shape that I start with that consists of making a block shape with a hole in it, like the pebbles you sometimes find on the beach with a natural hole in them. They are nicknamed Witches‘ stones and have been used as talismans since our ancestors started paying attention to unusual finds like these. From this, and how I have set the stone, I will start to carve out and sand back on the piece to achieve the shape I want, followed by lots of graded polishing to achieve the finish. Because the gold pyrite cube had a ruggedness, I wanted the blue of the resin to have a glossy liquid shine like a polished gem stone or an exotic pool of blue water with the jagged edge of metallic bursting through.

What do you feel makes your pieces so special?
I make each piece individually by hand from start to finish so that they’re totally bespoke; using sand, shells and stones from a day at the beach or a piece of crumbled masonry from home means each piece has a personal significance. They can trigger a memory of a journey or experience, and in creating a piece that is not only inspired by, but also physically includes them, expresses their preciousness.

LANVIN AW’12

Ever since Alber Elbaz unveiled his inspirational new ad-campaign for Lanvin A/W 2012 earlier this month, the fashion world has become increasingly intrigued over the identity of its featured “models”. However, last week the Parisian fashion house released a short film presenting a series of out-takes – shot by legendary fashion photographer, Steven Meisel – along with recorded interviews revealing personal anecdotes and insights into the lives of these new campaign stars. Amongst this group of colourful individuals with an impressive collective age range of 18-81 years old, we discover a salt & pepper shaker fanatic, a frozen blueberry addict and a James Bond wannabe. Also starring is the legendary former-dancer, Jacquie “Tajah” Murdock, whom recently was also featured in our current favourite fashion blog, Advanced Style.

First Resort

From secondary season to fully-fledged collections in their own right, this past year’s fashion cycle has all been about the rise of resort. Offering the ideal transition from autumn to summer, as well as designers an opportunity to prolong their retail exposure, the season has once and for all stepped out of its main collection sister’s shadow.

Wang’s aesthetic has increasingly matured since his prolific rise and this collection was a clear departure from those tank top and knit beanie days.

The designer still kept his downtown cool thanks to streamlined sleeveless puffa jackets and midriff-baring vests in patent and croc leather, but by offsetting them with front-pleated, pegged trousers and refined chiffon dresses, the looks went from everyday casual to New Yorker chic.

Celine

Every season, through the slightest tweak of a silhouette or colour alteration, Phoebe Philo manages to conjure up a new line of fashion must-haves.

Progressing from her sportswear influenced A/W 12 showing, this collection was a combination of relaxed silhouettes such as wide-legged trousers and leather jumper/jogger combos, but added that typical Celine elegance through geometric prints, clean lines and a largely black and white-colour palette.

Chloé

Chloé designer Clare Waight Keller headed to the country for this collection, but those expecting Little House On The Prairie type looks are in for a big surprise.

Instead Keller took the best inspirations of rural life – think pale skye blue and neutrals, ethnic prints and crochet patterns – and infused it into the brand’s laid back romantic DNA, resulting in lightweight harem trousers, smock dresses, waist-tie tops and scallop-edged shorts made for a summer in the city.

Christian Dior

An appropriate mix of historical references and contemporary elegance, these looks found their strength in the house of Dior’s archetypal look.

Leather and motif-printed capes stood alongside more relaxed silhouettes of harem trousers and silk shift dresses for a look that was truly Givenchy, but as always, has something new to bring to the table.

Accessorised with sunshine yellow pointed toe platform pumps and holographic clutches, this collection made us that bit more excited for the summer.

Theyskens’ Theory

How to turn the essentials into something intriguing appeared to be the question on Olivier Theyskens’ mind this season. His answer ticked all the right boxes: oversized blazers were given an oil painting slick appearance thanks to silver velvet and watercolour-esque prints, shimmering lurex T-shirts and jumpers gained nighttime appeal and the tried but true boyfriend jean was fitted with just the right amount of slouch. Who said basic had to be boring?